solangelo one shots

the chronicles of n&w part 3

Part 3 for you all

Will's POV

Feeling the light hit me was bliss. It always felt like that first thing in the morning. Nico looked at me strangely, thoughts flickering in his eyes. I mean, my eyes. I had to admit, I did kind of miss his dark ones. I was so terribly smitten.

"Did we switch powers?" He asked, glancing at my feet. The grass wasn't withering, at least. When he spoke to me like this, his face looked younger and more vulnerable, even though he currently wore my mine. He needed to look like that more often. He had been forced to grow up too soon. He closed his eyes, concentrating, and a skull erupted from the ground. I skittered backwards with a yelp, grabbing Nico's arm before quickly letting go. He fought laughter but failed.

"That was not funny!" I complained.

"Sorry. It was just the look on my own face..." He smiled faintly.

"Haha. That looked kind of creepy to see myself do that."

"Sorry," He repeated, looking guilty now. He cast the skull a look of disgust, and I realized that my reaction made him feel self-conscious about his dark abilities.

"It's fine, you just surprised me," I assured him. I didn't want him to be uncomfortable in any way. I didn't even know why I kissed him. I shouldn't have, and I certainly didn't plan to beforehand. I told myself that Aphrodite was messing with my head. I wasn't even out of the closet yet, for Zeus's sake! The skull sank back into the ground, almost violently. "And no more underworld-y stuff!" I reminded him. He snorted. We walked down to the Big House. People looked at me oddly, a tiny bit of admiration and fear on on their faces. Was this what Nico went through all the time? Distracted, I bumped straight into Percy.

"Oh, hey Percy. Sorry," I apologized.

He squinted at me. "It's fine, Nico. You seem kind of off, though. You okay?"

Nico and I shared a look. "Uh, that's because I'm not Nico. He and I switched bodies…?" I tried to look less nervous than I was.

Percy looked puzzled. "So you're Will? Is this a joke?" He eyed the two of us, scrutinizing our expressions.

"No, it's not a joke. We need to see Chiron." Nico insisted anxiously, embarrassed. He lowered his eyes.

Percy moved aside. It was so soon after the war that nothing seemed too crazy anymore. "Be my guests. One more question though - how'd it happen?"

Nico almost imperceptibly shook his head. If we mentioned Aphrodite, then he would know about us.

"Dunno," I shrugged. We walked past him, ignoring his frown, and found the centaur in his office. "Chiron?"

"What do you need?" He asked, without looking up from some papers.

How would we explain this without sounding completely awkward? "We switched bodies," I blurted. Better to get it over with fast, like ripping off a bandage.

That made him pause. "Come again?" He asked, gaping at the two of us. I repeated myself bluntly.

"Who did this?" He ordered.

We had to tell him, or he wouldn't know what to do. Nico beat me to the answer this time.

"It was Aphrodite." He grumbled, a shadow crossing his face. My face. This was making my head hurt. I should go take something for that, actually. If this situation with Nico was giving me a headache, and I don't mean to brag, but I'm the best healer in my cabin, and I manage to get a headache, then crap was getting real.

Chiron did a double take. "Aphrodite?"

"Yes, Aphrodite."

"She always plays matchmaker. Sometimes will succeed, sometimes will fail." The look on his face told me that he believed this situation to be the latter. Assumed it immediately. Nico and I exchanged a hurt look. Was it so hard to believe that we could be together? Apparently. "You can ask her for a chat, and unless she's busy, she'll most likely come to check on her project." Ouch. We were a project, apparently.

"Alright then. Come on, Will." Nico turned stiffly and walked out of the building. I followed him behind the Big House, where there was no one to overhear or see us. "How many people know that you're gay?" He asked me unexpectedly, causing me to freeze.

I hesitated. "No one," I said in a low voice. "You?"

"Percy, Annabeth, and Jason. Maybe Piper, she's always intuitive. And you, obviously. No need to include the Gods, as they probably knew since we were born. At least, they would want us to assume that they know all."

I sighed. "Don't be offended by Chiron. Every living being will make incorrect assumptions at one point or another, and it's not like anyone would guess." Memories crowded my mind.

"Are we official?" He powered forward intensely. An even more vulnerable expression appeared on his face. He was putting himself out there, ready to be shot down.

"Yes," I confirmed without missing a beat, and to my eternal surprise, he kissed me, in a different way than we did earlier. While earlier I had kissed him in a short, sweet, and spontaneous way that said, "I like you", Nico kissed me as a pre-planned move, that said, "I really like you". We weren't exactly at the love stage yet, but nevertheless I melted like a teenage girl.

When we pulled away, he blushed, ducking his head and eyeing his shoes, trying to rebuild his indifferent facade. He was scared of rejection. It was good to know that I wasn't the only one. I smiled and intertwined our fingers momentarily, seeing him relax.

"Let's go chat with a love goddess." I said lightly, grinning. He smiled back at me, such a strange gesture for him that it completely changed his appearance. There was a hint of the little boy he must have used to be in that smile, a boy I wanted to get to know. We walked towards the strawberry fields, the afternoon sun pounding us. We walked closer to each other than we usually did, but not enough to attract attention. But attract attention we did. It became evident that Percy had told everyone about our predicament, and I could feel their stares on our backs.

"Ugh, they're all just gaping at us." Nico muttered. He wiped his face clean of emotion, preparing for confrontation.

"Just follow me." I disappeared into the rows of strawberry plants, which had been recently altered by Katie Gardener to be as tall as corn stalks. Nico trailed after me, looking like he wanted to dissolve in shadows. Well, too bad, because I wasn't letting him get away with that. We looked behind us as Annabeth jogged over. Percy wasn't at her side for once, thank the Gods.

"Nico?" She asked him, assessing his posture and the arrangement of his features. Nico raised a hand half heartedly, his eyes shadowed with caution. His smile was long gone, and he unconsciously bit his lip as he watched her expression. I wanted to reassure him in some way, but not in front of Annabeth.

"Who did this?" She asked.

This was Annabeth, and her air of maturity compelled me to answer. "Don't tell anyone, but it was Aphrodite." Nico flashed me a glance, a warning in his eyes.

"Good luck getting through to her," She answered in distaste, rejoining Percy. I saw her peek back and wink at us. She knew.